Rodrigo Silva — or Rigo — has been working with Webster Orchards, Inc., for the past four years as an orchard foreman. He brings his leadership abilities to The Fruit Company during the holiday season to oversee the packing of gift boxes on the night crew. Workers can fill an 8- or 12-box gift tower, from start to finish in 35 seconds.
Rodrigo Silva — or Rigo — has been working with Webster Orchards, Inc., for the past four years as an orchard foreman. He brings his leadership abilities to The Fruit Company during the holiday season to oversee the packing of gift boxes on the night crew. Workers can fill an 8- or 12-box gift tower, from start to finish in 35 seconds.
Rodrigo Silva — or Rigo, as he’s also called — really knows pears. He also really knows gift boxes.
Silva is pear foreman at Webster Orchards, Inc., and, for 40 days a year, is also foreman of The Fruit Company’s night crew, supervising a team of about 40 as they hand-fill the company’s well-known gift towers with fresh fruit, candies, crackers, cheeses and other goodies. (Webster Orchards and The Fruit Company are under the direction of Scott Webster, CEO, and are headquartered in Pine Grove, on Van Horn Drive.)
It’s an opportunity Silva is grateful for — not for himself, but for the men and women he manages.
“Mostly all the workers on the night crew, they’re working in the fields, they don’t have too much to do in the mornings (this time of year),” Silva explained. “That’s the people we usually hire. I like it because you see those guys and their faces. I’m glad Scott (Webster, CEO) opened the night crew; it gives us opportunities to earn income.”
Employees often work between the two companies, Silva said. Webster said that during holiday emergencies — more orders coming in then they’d planned for — more people who usually work in the orchard come in to help.
“(The Fruit Company gives) you a lot of opportunities, a lot of work for the workers,” he added.
The night crew began building the gift towers on Nov. 3 — a little earlier than usual this year — and will continue through Dec. 11. Shifts run from 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Currently, they are working to fill a 200,000 gift tower order from Costco. Two assembly lines work to quickly fill either an 8- or 12-tier stack. As the men and women fill each box at their station, Silva walks between the two lines, making sure boxes are packed properly, helping move empty bins down the line, or troubleshooting any problems that arise.
The biggest problem, Silva said, are gift boxes that, when inspected before traveling down the line to be filled, are found to be damaged in some way and must be replaced quickly to keep the line moving.
And the lines move very, very quickly — on the night crew, a gift tower is completed every 35 seconds. That comes to 1,180 of the 8-tiered towers and 630 of the 12-tiered towers every night. Smaller towers take even less time.
“It’s really fast,” Silva allowed.
The holiday season is “the busiest time” on the lines, Silva said. Once the Costco orders are filled, the team will begin working on made-to-order boxes. Webster estimates The Fruit Company will send a half a million gifts across the country by the time the holiday season is over. That’s good news to Silva.
“I appreciate what Scott Webster did for us,” he said. “All the family members, because (Scott sees) all the workers as his family.
“He’s a really nice guy. I really appreciate him bringing jobs (to) the community.”
Silva has been a foreman in the pear orchard at Webster Orchards, Inc., for the past four years. The orchard is comprised of pears, cherries and blueberries, with pears comprising the largest number of acreage, explained Webster — 300 acres of a 500 acre operation.
Webster said Silva is a great asset to both him and Webster Orchards General Manager Leo Vega, Silva’s boss.
“Rigo is a really good orchard hand,” Webster said. “He really knows pears. He’s an exceptional pruner and leader of pruning, and he’s developing into a good crew leader.
“The important thing is that I can trust him and Leo; that’s the most important thing I get with these guys,” Webster added.
When the holiday rush is over at The Fruit Company, Silva will head back to the orchard, leading lead pruning crews and the micro-crews that work on irrigation, planting and spaying.
And when harvest comes around again, he’ll be there, too.
Silva’s “gracious and grateful” attitude is the reason he’s successful as a foreman, Webster said. “Everyone I talk to who knows Rigo says how he brightens their day,” he said, noting Silva’s constant smile.
Before coming to work for Webster Orchards, Silva worked as a foreman for Gary Tamura of Tamura Orchards, Inc., for 21 years. His expertise there was also with pears.
Silva is from Michoacán, Mexico, and came to Oregon — specifically, The Dalles — in 1990. He lived in The Dalles with his mother for two years before moving to Hood River in 1993 to begin work at Tamura Orchards, and he has lived in the Hood River Valley ever since.
Silva and wife Marcy, who works at Columbia Gorge Family Medicine in the medical records department, have raised two daughters, Christina and Vanessa, in Odell and, since his employment with Webster Orchards, in Pine Grove.
Christina, 19, attends the University of Oregon, and Vanessa, a sophomore soccer star at Hood River Valley High School, was recently selected as part of the Portland Thorns girls youth academy program as a goalie.
“(Vanessa) got Keeper of the Year for the conference,” he added.
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